The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has
drawn up ambitious plans of opening post office Passport Seva Kendras (PSKs) in
650 districts across the country soon.
Disclosing this during the inauguration of a
post office PSK here on Wednesday, MEA Secretary D.M. Mulay said the MEA was
planning to collaborate with the Department of Posts by opening PSKs at district
level across the country to meet the growing demand for passports. The demand
for passports in India, which is around 2 crore a year, was the third highest in
the world after China and the U.S. A total of 60,000 passports are issued every
day in the country, he added.
While there are a total of 89 PSKs in the
country, the first two post office PSKs were opened at the Metagalli Post office
in Mysuru and the Head Post office at Dahod in Gujarat in pilot mode on
Wednesday.
Usha Chandrashekar, member, Postal Services
Board, who was also present at the inauguration, said the postal officials will
be processing the applications for verification of documents and obtaining the
photographs and biometrics of the applicants at the post office PSKs.
The Department of Posts, which was earlier only
handling posts, has also been handling a variety of other services, including
delivering e-commerce parcels, insurance, social security products, and
agricultural seeds. Now, it will be handling delivery of passport-related
services in an IT-enabled manner, she added.
Union Minister Ananth Kumar, who inaugurated
the post office PSK in Mysuru, hoped that all the districts of the country will
have a PSK in one year’s time and appreciated Minister for External Affairs
Sushma Swaraj’s initiative in the regard.
Pratap Simha, MP, recalled that the demand for
a PSK for Mysuru was the first issue on which he had spoken in the Parliament
after his election. He revealed that the decision to start a post office PSK in
Mysuru from Wednesday was taken only last Friday and appreciated the officials
of the Regional Passport Office, Bengaluru, led by RPO P.S. Karthigeyan for
making the necessary arrangements in quick time.
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